


Bluescreen of Fate

by llamabunnybird



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Brothers Germany & Prussia (Hetalia), College, Customer Service & Tech Support, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Drinking to Cope, Fluff, Graduate School, IT struggles, Look At Your Life Look At Your Choices, M/M, Meet-Cute, PruCan Week, Slow Build, being a teacher is hard, teacher life, technology sucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-07-21 03:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16151153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llamabunnybird/pseuds/llamabunnybird
Summary: Matthew just wants to teach his classes but his new classroom technology isn't cooperating.  Gilbert just wants the buggy upgrade to stop making his life so hard although on the upside it lets him see the handsome literature teacher at least once a week.Eventually he begins to wonder if the other man is breaking the computer on purpose





	1. My Day is Going Worse than Yours

 

Matthew knew he should have stayed in bed that day. One missed bus and a step into green ooze and then having his coffee fucked up beyond all fixing later he was ready for the day to be over. It was only 9am. Dropping into his seat with a huff he began looking through his to do list, late bus aside he was still early enough to have moment to breath before having to teach class. Poking his head over the cubical that divided his half of the office from Felix’s he noted his coworker looked to be having an even worse day than his.

“Hey Fe” he said getting his things together slightly registering the groan of misery from next-door “You and Toris must be on the outs again?” he asked heading for the door.

“We were never even on this time” came the grumbled response from the other man as he set up his laptop.

“Ah” Matthew said awkwardly wondering if he should offer condolences or the honest truth that they were both crazy. Deciding that was a discussion to have when he was more awake he headed to class. It was halfway through the semester and he already had two different students he was positive were going to fail the class. Delightful.

An hour and forty five unproductive minutes later he found himself wanting to beat the classroom computer into a fiery pulp. They had upgraded the computer systems over midterm break and after both the projector and the computer had refused to connect to the internet and each other Matthew had been forced to simply talk to a sea of uninterested freshman faces about how and why they should care that Walt Whitman liked trees.

With a sigh he tried turning the computer back on once more praying that this time it would work. Instead a bright blue screen started running number.

“Oh noooooooooo” he groaned “fine I give up” he said beginning to search through his messenger bag propped behind the lectern. Finding his phone he pulled up the IT departments number and hit call.

“University IT department how can I help you?” someone said somehow sounding even more harried than he felt.

“Um hi I’m trying to teach in room 215 and the projector and computer won’t connect and now it’s at the blue screen of death” Matthew could have sworn he heard something shatter on the other end of the phone. “Hello?” he asked when no response came.

“Hi” The other person said “So you probably want to switch rooms because it’s a system issue and we have multiple issues of that sort today”

“Switch rooms?! But didn’t they all get upgraded?” Matthew asked waving Eliza the professor for Gender and Woman's Literature into the room “Let me check I’m putting you on hold” and with that he was stuck with elevator music

“Eliza are any of the classrooms open?” he asked putting the phone on speaker as he picked up his things.

“If this is about the computers the entire floor was upgraded and none of them are working” She said wryly looking at the computer which was now making a worrying hum. “can’t you just adjust the schedule and have the students do an interpretive reading or something today instead of lecturing?”

 “Do you really think anyone wants to do a read aloud of Faust?” Matthew retorted looking at what he had planned for the next class. Her response was cut off by the elevator music abruptly switching to swearing.

“Um hello?” he said picking the phone back up again and tucking his bag into the little closet in the corner, so he could go grab coffee from the faculty office before his next class.

The swearing stopped having switched he was pretty sure into German part way through “Hi” said what was very clearly a different person from the first IT man he had dealt with. “Carlos said you were having computer issues with 215 in College Hall?”

“That’s right I tried to reboot the computer after it wouldn’t connect and now its on the blue screen”

“Sounds about right” the other man sighed. Matthew could hear what sounded like a pen clicking in and out. “we are trying to get this resolved but with so many computers down it’s probably going to take all day”

“Sorry” Matthew said automatically as he wove his way around students and teachers to get to the upstairs of the building. Waving at the department secretary he poured the coffee hoping it wasn’t yesterdays reheated (it had happened once, and his life literally flashed before his eyes).

“Not your fault” came the response “Look my name’s Gilbert I’ll try and be there to fix your classroom by 3pm”.

“Well at least my night class will work out then” Matthew said dumping sugar into his coffee bleakly.

“Yeah sure” came the response “See you then”

And with that Matthew had an hour to re-plan his day delightful just what he wanted to do today. Back in his office he slumped into his chair rubbing his eyes and wishing the day was over or that he had stayed on vacation like his father had tried to convince him to do. “I could be in France right now” he muttered starting to re-plan his lessons.

 

* * *

 

Gilbert was having the day from hell. "It'll be fine they said, go take a vacation they said..."  he muttered scrolling through the seemingly unending list of IT issues he was going to have to deal with. "Eduard!" he yelled over the cubical wall. "I only have the issues as being in College Hall who did that set of installations?"

"That would have been Al" came a yell from their common area and the sound of the fridge closing.

"You better not be taking a lunch break" Gilbert said swinging out of the chair "We have 35 classrooms to fix before we can go home" he added looking into the informal breakroom at the only other IT person on the job that morning "When Alfred gets in I'm going to kill him" he added.

"Relax Gil" Eduard said stirring milk into his coffee "I think we just need to reinstall and sync"

"Whatever that bozo did sent 215 into blue screen mode" Gilbert said shortly pulling an energy drink out of the fridge.

"Yeah the professor from that room was the only one that had that issue though so maybe we'll luck out" Eduard said with what Gilbert thought was unnecessary optimism.

"I can take floor 2 if you take 3 and then we can make Alfred redo floors 3 and 4?" Gilbert said resigning himself to handling whatever the dumbass from 215 had done to the computer.

"Sounds good to me" the other man said and with that they got to work.

 

* * *

 

It was 3:05 and no one had come to fix his computer. His class on 19th century literature had gone relatively well. At least the students had humored him in his request that they do a read through in class of the play.  Matthew had taken a nap halfway through the afternoon dozing on his shared office couch only to be woken up by Felix having a shouting match with his not boyfriend via skype. "Dude" he grumbled rolling over burrowing into his coat "Argue when you go home".

"It's 3pm why are you even here? Don’t you have class to prep for?" came the response before they launched back into their argument.

Grumbling Matthew rolled off the couch and finger combed his hair back into place as best he could before heading back to the classroom. He had left a note on the computer and hopefully no one else had messed it up. Ivan taught at 2 and didn’t usually use the computer from what he gathered from the Whiteboard filled with scribbles after every class. Poking the computer mouse the machine refused to even turn on screen solidly black even after hitting the on button. With a wince Matthew pulled his bag out of the cupboard and started setting up his laptop on the window sill . If the weather stayed nice and the technology remained broken maybe he would have them sit outside.

“Hey!” A man came into the room white blond hair messy and what looked to be a duffle bag of wires.

“Hey” Matthew you said standing up “I’m Dr. Williams you must be the IT person?”

“Yep I’m Gilbert head of IT” the other man said shortly poking around the back of the computer.

“I’m not sure what’s wrong with it” Matthew said looking over his shoulder “Usually it hooks right up to the projector but today it just made a weird beep and then wouldn’t start and then went to the blue screen and now it won’t start at all” he finished in a rush. He got the impression that the other man had heard a similar story multiple times.

“Sounds about right” Gilbert said turning to yell at the man loitering by the door “Alfred get the ladder”

“I could just stand on the chairs”

“You could also fall off and sue us for the whole 2 cents the university has to its name. Go get the ladder”. Rolling his eyes he turned to Matthew who was trying to stifle a smile. “Look it’s going to be awhile go get dinner or lunch or something we should have it done before your night class”.

“I was going to do work over here actually” Matthew said waving a hand at his laptop and books in the corner. “Just to see what you guys do in case it happens again”.

“Whatever floats your boat” Gilbert replied with a shrug “Also just so you know your hair is…” he waved his hands trying to convey the strange wave on top of the other mans head.

“Of course it is” Matthew said trying to flatten it . For some reason it was always the same section of hair. No matter what Eliza said curly hair was more effort than it was worth.

An hour and five essays graded later he admitted to himself he was hungry. Standing up he looked over at the IT people who were currently bickering over wire placement and what sounded like witchcraft. “Um I’m getting food you guys want anything?”

“Nah” Gilbert said waving distractedly as he and Alfred pieced the computer back together.

Shrugging Matthew went to go get food coming back to find a note on his laptop “Fixed it call me if you have problems Gil”

Tentatively poking the computer mouse the screen came up with a log in screen and a few minutes later the projector was working too. Smiling Matthew went to the IT website and sent an email thanking them. In the back of his mind he wondered if he would see Gilbert again. He seemed competent. That was always a nice thing in a man. An IT man he corrected himself.

He still had class outside. The cool fall air felt nice and after struggling with the computer earlier it was nice to get back to the basics. He had the sneaking suspicion though that he had unintentionally offended GIlbert by the way the other man looked at him as he passed by his class still carrying the bag of wires with Alfred complaining about something technical. 

The email he had in his inbox later reaffirmed it. 

"Dear Professor Williams

Hope you had no further issues with the computer or projector this evening please let me know if it needs any further maintence

Gilbert Beilschmit"

With a sigh Matthew quickly responded as he headed home

"Dear Gilbert, Thank you, the projector and computer work fine I simply chose an alternative place to hold class tonight.

Sorry for the concern

Matt"

And with that he was done for the day


	2. Chapter 2

Gilbert was going to kill Alfred looking at the list of fixes he had to get to he wondered what on earth the other man did on his shift. He had a feeling that most of the issues were stemmed from being over enthusiastic over upgrading things just to find something to do. Which was all well and good until a poor computer from 1999 burst into flames trying to install windows 10 software. Rolling his shoulders and wincing at the crackle Gilbert started to get his things together. He had 4 internet connections to fix and a buggy library catalog to troubleshoot and once that was done he was totally playing online MMOs until 5. “ Looks like a perfect day Ed” he said swiping a soda from the fridge as he headed out .

“You making Al do the big fixes?” Eduard mumbled as he sat scrolling through code trying to find where some poor grad student had messed up his profile page.

“Yep” said Gilbert popping the ‘p’ with some satisfaction. “He made them he fixes them” .

“Fair enough” Eduard said waving absentmindedly at him as he left.

Scrolling through his phone as he walked Gilbert smirked as he looked at the pictures his brother had put up on Instagram “Looks like you’re whipped lil bro” he snickered putting just that in the comment section under a picture of Ludwig putting up shelving with a cat strapped to him. Shaking his head, he wove through the students heading to class and to the comparatively empty library.

One elevator trip to the subbasement of sadness later he was stuck in line waiting with the rest of the petitioners to ask the head librarian what exactly was wrong with the non-connecting computers. Blinking he realized the person in front of him was the Professor he had helped the other day.

“Hey you’re the tech guy” The other man said suddenly seeming to realize the same thing.

“Yeah that’s me” Gilbert replied with a smile “what are you doing down here?” he asked looking around “You keep a book out late?”

Matthew snorted “Nothing like that I’m actually trying to figure out why none of my students seem to be able to get the reserve books I had them put aside”

“Ah” Gilbert said shuffling forward as the line shortened. Leaning against the corner of the bookcase he asked “Keeping anything good on reserve?”

“Just the main textbook I had a few spare copies, but supposedly they can’t get them and that’s why no one is doing the reading” Matthew shook his head “I have a feeling that no one has actually tried to take them out but I want to check before I make them do a quiz”

“Sounds fair”

“Yeah. So why are you here? Did they glitch out too from the other day?” Matthew waved his hand vaguely seeming to be trying to capture ‘blue screen of death’ in the gesture.

“Nah it’s a internet connection issue with the lending laptops” Gilbert said surprised that the other man had asked

“Hopefully it’s an easy fix” Matthew said with a smile and wave as he headed into the office leaving Gilbert outside with a rather funny feeling in his stomach.

“Huh” Gilbert said looking after him shifting his orange backpack to the floor as he slouched further against the bookcase. “Well at least he’s polite” he muttered waving at the other man a few minutes later as he headed into his meeting.

 

* * *

 

Matthew had spent most of the morning trying his best to figure out whether his students were lying or just incompetent and it turned out the answer was both. Resigning himself to writing up a pop quiz he head to lunch flipping through his planner to make a note so he would remember. In the back of his head he wondered how the Tech guy had fared with his issues hopefully they had been easy to fix.  God he was cute he thought absently as he headed to his office. Something about how he slouched against the bookcase…? Mentally shrugging he got back to work drafting a quiz and then sitting through what felt like an endless staff meeting where they were informed funding was going to be allocated to yet more upgrades. No one was happy about that. Felix was still kvetching about it when they got back to their office. Nodding along Matthew paged through the funding plans.

“Did you see they are giving us new work laptops since the students are getting some?” he commented.

“Really?” Felix said looking through his own packet of papers. “They didn’t mention that in the meeting”

“I still feel like the money could be better used for programs” Matthew said dropping the file on the corner of his desk.

“Speak for yourself” Felix muttered “I could use a new laptop” .

Glancing at his coworker’s stickered covered laptop Matthew was forced to agree. “You’ve had that thing since graduate school right?”

“Dude I’m still in graduate school” Felix said moving his laptop aside “Just got to finish up my diseration and I’m done though”

“I keep forgetting” Matthew said “Sorry about that. You know what” he added looking over at their couch .

“What” Felix said already back to working on grading

“We should get like a foot stool or something like a table cause then I could sit on the couch and work”

“You want it you get it” came the mumbled reply.  

“I’ll look over the weekend” Matthew said settling in to write up the test and taking the wave over the cubical wall as a yes.

 

* * *

 

Gilbert’s day ended up being better and worse than he had hoped. The internet issues at the library had turned out to be from outdated tech and how on earth do you say ‘no really you need to buy a laptop from this decade’ to someone who was absoutly not going to do that? At least the catalogue issue was easy to resolve. With time to spare Gilbert looked at his phone as he settled into his office chair. Eduard had already gone home and in an hour he could do the same. Frowning he scrolled through the messages from his brother he had missed while working. “God Lud” he grumbled before calling him.

“Hello?” his brother picked up on the first ring.

“Lud I know I said I’d help with the sale this weekend but I’m really...” Gilbert tried to say until he was cut off.

“If you ditch to go drinking I will kill you” his brother said

“Look its Oktoberfest I don’t know what you expect here?” Gilbert whined slightly spinning in his chair.

“I expect you to show up to the estate sale so that I don’t have to do it all alone!” his brother said in a huff.

“Fine whatever but I’m showing up hungover” Gilbert finally said, “Me and Tonio have been planning this for weeks!”

“The sale has been planned for weeks too!”

Gilbert hung up on him before he could complain more. Ignoring his phone as his brother called him back he packed up his stuff. The hell with it he was going home. Leaving a note for Alfred ( ‘There had better not be anything broken when I come in Monday’ ) he locked up and headed for the parking lot. ‘stupid estate sale’ he muttered to himself as he walked. His step-mother had recently died and with her gone neither him nor his brother were interested in taking the house. While her family had handled the property they had left the contents to them. It was Ludwig’s idea to have a garage sale. In Gilbert’s opinion he who thought of the idea should do it and that meant he didn’t have to be involved. Clearly his brother did not agree.

Estate sale or not Oktoberfest was happening and with having to work over the school break Gilbert had managed to take Friday off. Settling into his car he adjusted the mirror and smirked. This was going to be fun.  


	3. Chapter 3

Matthew was positive that whoever had labeled the tiny table $100 had done so accidentally. Beat up and covered in more bottom of the glass rings than should be possible it was inconceivable that anyone would expect $100 dollars for it. A quick look at the rest of the good for sale on the sidewalk quickly changed his mind all of them ludicrously priced. Shrugging he moved on to the next house . One of Matthew’s favorite things about fall was the little flood of post school and pre winter yard sales. So far he had found some nice older books and fish shaped vase and he was forced to remind himself that he was here for a shabby chic table not for a what was most likely a haunted mirror or a furby that looked like it had been covered in bubblegum. Three yard sale adventures later he found the tidiest one he had seen all day. Well at least clean was a good sign. Beginning to pick through the items he waved at what he assumed was the owner. The blond man gave him a distracted nod of acknowledgement before returning to what looked like an argument with a shorter man who was waving what looked like a set of bowls around.

“Feli we already have bowls”

“But these ones are bigger! And you said when we moved in we would get new ones anyway!”

“These don’t count as new”

“Well they are new to me!”

Stifling a smile Matthew kept looking for a small table or ottoman finally finding a piece that looked like it might be both. It was a little table with claw feet and when he turned it around he realized it had a catch to open into a little storage nook. Perfect. Looking for the price tag he flipped it over, nothing. Oh well time to interrupt what was looking more like a domestic dispute by the minute. Picking it up he headed toward the garage door they were standing in table semi obscuring his view as he wove around miscellaneous items on the lawn. On the way in between stepping over what looked like a sad hose and around a box of old records someone ran into him sending magazines flying.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” he said putting the table down awkwardly to help pick them up. Stacking the them together he stood back up pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “Hey wait” he said as he handed them back to the bleary eyed guy clutching the rest of them. “Aren’t you the tech guy from school?”

Looking at him Matthew was almost positive it was the same man. But instead of the competent and slightly, dare he say it, _cool_ man he remembered from earlier this week this individual looked like he had fallen in a gutter taken a nap and then dragged himself to be there.

Blinking at him Gilbert squinted “You’re that guy from the library” he said finally trying his best to perk up as the mental gears slipped into place. A struggle since he had spent most of the night passed out on a park bench before Ludwig had called him at 7am forcing him to drag himself to the house and start putting stuff out.

“What are you doing here?” he asked looking around. He had been secretly rather pessimistic about the whole idea of doing a sale. And so far Matthew was the second person he had seen all morning. At this rate most of the items were going to end up back at Lud and Feli’s apartment.

Matthew picked up the table again “Well I was hoping to get this” he said “I was going to go ask the owner about the price. What are you doing here?” he asked eyeing the stack of house decorating magazines the other man was holding again.

Snorting at the comment about the ‘owner’ Gilbert set the magazines in a pile on the nearest table sticking a price sticker on them “I’m helping my brother out” he said tipping his head towards the garage where things seemed to have escalated with the one man now holding an entire storage bin of dishes.

“Ah” Matthew said. Squinting a bit he could see the resemblance. Sort of.

“Step-brother” Gilbert said seeming to have read his mind as he glanced back at the couple. “Hey Lud!” he yelled. The other man immediately glancing over.

“What!?”

“How much did you want the chair table thing to be?” Gilbert said waving over to the item still grasped in Matthew’s hands.

“$25?!” His brother said tentatively walking over to look at the item.

“Hey” Matthew said looking over the edge of the table. Letting the other man take it and look at it he rolled his shoulders trying to get the knots from slouching out.

“25 sounds about right” Ludwig said finally putting it back down and looking around. “Do you want help getting it back to your car ?”

Matthew blinked and then realized what he was saying “Oh it’s fine I can carry it I’m just parked down there” he waved off to the end of the development as he dug through his back pocket for the right change. “Here you go!” he said handing Ludwig the money. As he reached for the table was interrupted by Gilbert picking it up first. “Hey that’s mine” he said attempting to tug it back.

“I can carry it after all I bumped into you earlier think of it as an apology” said Gilbert starting down the driveway “Besides you’re my escape ticket from that” he tipped his head back to the new argument about Christmas decorations.

With a huff Matthew let him do it unable to resist asking “What’s the deal with all of that anyway?” as he led the way down to his car a few blocks away.

Feet crunching in the leaves Gilbert snickered a bit before answering “My brother’s boyfriend can’t get rid of anything, so the entire yard sale is a bit of a personal battle of wills between the two” .

“Ah” Matthew said “Makes sense your brother seems…” he waved his hands in a gesture that attempted to convey 'lives with five pieces of furniture and doesn't want more' . The nod from the other man seemed to suggest success in communication. “I’m sure that keeps their relationship fun?”

“Always” Gilbert said wryly placing the table down on the curb as Matthew unlocked the car. “My favorite thing is seeing the increasingly elaborate ways Lud tries to organize Feli’s things its great”

Smiling at the idea himself Matthew popped the trunk and somehow, they managed to get the table to fit into it with only the trunk a little bit open. Muttering under his breath Matthew tried to push it down more.

“You sure it won’t fit in the side door?” Gilbert said after watching him struggle for a minute.

“The one door doesn’t open so we’d have to shove it in the other side with me climbing through the car to pull if we did” Matthew said distractedly “I don’t suppose you have a bungee cord I could borrow to just sort of latch it enough?”

“I don’t have any but I’m sure Lud does give me a second?” and with that Matthew was left with the car. Tapping his foot Matthew considered the unexpected turn his day had taken. On the one hand this guy Gilbert(?) didn’t seem half bad on the other hand…god only knew if he was interested in him. In any case having the man’s bungee cord could give him a reasonable excuse to keep in touch. Still overthinking it  he nearly jumped out of his skin when he was poked by the man in question.

“Got one!” Gilbert said with a satisfied smile “now let’s see…” moments later he had somehow hooked the cord to hold the trunk lid semi closed with a piece of orange tap stuck to the outside as a warning flag.

“That should get you home” he said sticking his hands in his back pockets and heading back to the house.

“Hey!” Matthew called after him “I can give it back to you at school Monday if you want?” We could meet at the café?”

Gilbert paused cheeks flushing pink “Sounds good!” he called back “11:30 sound good?”

“Yeah!” Matthew said a smile spilling across his face quickly smothered as Gilbert turned to look at him still walking away.

“It’s a date then” He said. And then Gilbert tripped over the sidewalk and ate dirt.

Matthew winced and headed over “You okay?”

Sputtering Gilbert waved him off “Yeah I’m fine. Takes more than a wonky sidewalk to stop my awesomeness”

Raising an eyebrow Matthew resisted saying that it seemed to be pretty damn effective. “So Monday at 11:30” he said finally as the other man brushed off his black pants.

“Yeah sounds good” Gilbert said distractedly patting his hoody down to check if his phone was okay.

“See you then” Matthew said shrugging “Try not to trip on the way to campus Monday”

“Rude!” was the response from behind him.

Laughing to himself Matthew got in the car and spotted Gilbert in the mirror not exactly waving but clearly watching him leaving. With a quick beep of the horn Matthew did a last wave out the window and headed off with a strange warm feeling inside he had almost forgotten could exist.

It was a date.


	4. Chapter 4

Matthew was 110% sure he was overthinking this as he shoved yet another outfit back in the closet. “What do you think about this one?” he asked waving the sweater at his cat. With a soft chirp she swiped at the sleeve “Yeah I think it’s good too” Matthew said pulling red sweater over his head and grabbing his glasses off the bed. Blinking into the mirror on the back of his door he thought he looked casually nice if there was such a thing. “God Kuma” he said to the cat that was now curling around his ankles “Why do I do this to myself?” . The cat however offered no solutions pausing in its quest for breakfast to roll all over his messenger bag and necessitating him pulling out the lint roller. Grumbling Matthew finally felt like he was ready to go. Checking his phone he smiled at the text from Carlos calling him as he walked out the door “Bye cat” he called as he closed the door and headed down the stairs.

“It’s not a date” he said as soon as Carlos picked up.

“It seems like a date” the other man said laughing “I bet you even spent half the morning picking something to wear”

“Are those birds in the background? I thought you were supposed to be doing research down there not fishing!” was Matthew’s only response causing his friend to laugh through the phone at him.

“Ah Mattie you were always good at figuring out where I was” Carlos chuckled.

“That’s why we aren’t dating anymore” Matthew said dryly as he got on the bus. “And anyway it’s not a date! Sure he said it was a date but he meant like in general as in a ‘gimme back the bungee cord’ date”

“Mattie no one makes a ‘date’ to give back a bungee cord. Not even Ivan does that and he’s anal retentive” Carlos said with what sounded like a splash in the background.

“You get something?” Matthew asked ignoring his previous comment.

“Nah but there’s always next time!”

Matthew smile “It’s always good to hear from you Carlos”

“You too. Enjoy your date! I’m going to enjoy the sun and a cigar and hopefully fish later”

Matthew could hear the lighter flicking in the background as he hung up. Shaking his head he looked out the window watching the familiar streets go by and scooting over when the bus began to fill up. Finally pulling the stop line Matthew hopped off the bus with a brief wave to the bus driver.

Trudging up the side street to the university he thought about whether he should dump his other things at the office or head straight to the café. Deciding on the café first so he wouldn’t be late he quickly went over to the elevator that connected the lower plaza he was on to the sky bridge that would put him in the middle of campus.

 

* * *

Gilbert was having a busy day. Waking up to an automated phone call from the school informing him that the servers were due for their quarterly check he then had to call Eduard who sounded just as miserable as he felt “Look” he said pouring water in the coffee maker and flipping it on “I’m just passing it along I’ll see you at work” ignoring the mumbled grumbling he hung up and scratching his back he went to the bird cage in the corner of his room taking the sheet off as he went.

 “Rise and shine Gilbird” he yawned checking to make sure the food and water dishes were full. Still half asleep he started to page through his calendar for the day normal crap normal day. But then something very not normal was on his phone calendar ‘café w cute prof’ .

“Aw crap Gilbird that’s today” he said suddenly very awake. Shoving his closet door open he started searching through things. Settling on a mostly nonwrinkled shirt and fitted slacks he quickly got dressed finger combing his hair into place.

“Do I look okay” he asked the bird straightening himself out in front of the cage. Taking the bird’s excited chirping as a yes he smiled “That’s what I thought” he said heading to the kitchen to get coffee and start his day. On his way out the door shortly after, he pushed the pile of leaves off the front porch with his foot. "Gotta rake this week" he muttered heading to the car. Pulling out of the driveway he flipped the radio on humming along to the music as his thoughts drifted back to the intriguing teacher from the other week. On the one hand it could simply be a handoff of the cord but on the other who did that? Lud would never know the difference so who would bother unless it was a date date.... Still thinking it through he pulled onto campus and found a parking spot on the outer edge. Eduard always said it was dumb to park on campus and commuted via bus, but Gilbert like the challenge of finding a spot and it was a reassuring point of control in his life so he put up with the inconvenience. 

Hiking his bag over his shoulder he scrolled through the news on his phone as he walked to the café up the hill. Whatever happened it would work out he told himself as he paused outside seeing Matthew through the window ordering a drink. Taking a deep breath he warily went in praying to all the gods computer and otherwise that this was a date. 


	5. Chapter 5

Looking up at the sign Matthew considered what would look the least dorky of the choices. Settling for the red-eye that would get him through the rest of the morning he double checked the cafe looking for the distinctive messy platinum hair of the man he was meeting.  Coming up empty he turned back to the coffee bar taking the steaming cup from the woman "Thanks Amy" he said wrapping his hands cold from nerves around the warm yellow cup.

"Anytime love" she said heading back to the espresso machine with a smile

"She your girlfriend?" came a voice from behind him making Matthew jump slightly.  Grateful for the lid on his cup as a handful of hot coffee would have ended poorly he turned to the guy standing behind him

"Hello to you too" he said dryly taking a sip of his coffee "And no she isn't my girlfriend, but she makes the best coffee on campus and therefore has earned my eternal love" He said speaking loudly towards Amy who grinned and waved at the two of them.

Gilbert laughed and got in line "Just thought I’d ask" he said "Do you want to pick a table while I get my drink?"

"Yeah sure" Matthew said heading over to the table closest to the window and in the sun. 

Putting his bag over the back of the chair he sat watching as Gilbert got his coffee and then dumped what looked like an unholy amount of sugar in it. Doing his best to push down the nervous feeling in his stomach he tried to look confident as Gilbert walked over. "So did the yard sale go well?" he asked as the other man sat down.

Gilbert shrugged "I think so? We got rid of the bulky stuff and once my brother figures out what they don't want I think the plan is donate and pitch the rest" he took a sip of his coffee "Did that table thing work out for you?"

Matthew nodded "Yes! I brought it over to school yesterday and it fits perfectly in my office! " he wrinkled his nose "But I’m pretty sure that my office mate is going to use it to store clutter instead of a blanket like I had hoped" he shrugged at Gilbert's quizzical look.

"Sometimes there are weird gaps. Like Thursdays i have one class at 8am and another at 4 and so if I get everything else done a nice nap at lunch is kind of nice"

"Fair enough" Gilbert said "How long have you been teaching?" 

Matthew waved his hand dismissively "I mean I taught while getting my phd but this is my first real full professorship it's been an interesting year. People are really nice here" he added. "Have you worked here long?"

"Yeah five years in December" Gilbert said looking out over the campus quad. "It's a good place they have decent benefits and there's always so much to do."

"Fair enough" said Matthew feeling a bit lost about what to talk about next. Luckily Gilbert didn't seem to have the same reservations.

"So like did you hear about that new laptop thing the administration wants to do?!" he said swirling his coffee cup to get the sugar to blend better.

"Yeah I did I’m not sure how it's all going to work though" Matthew said tentatively "Will you be stuck setting them up?"

Gilbert shrugged "not sure yet I’ll probably delegate. But I’m pushing for the library to get some to replace their craptastic loaners."

Matthew nodded “What ever happened to those by the way? You were having issues with them right?”

“To damn old” Gilbert said “Some of them are legitly older than the students here” he gave a shiver.

Matthew smiled  “You’d hate my dad then. His computer is so old it was still running windows 95 last time I saw him”

“What is he a luddite?” Gilbert asked standing up to throw out his cup and taking Matthews empty one with him to dump them in the corner can.

“Nah” Matthew said standing up and grabbing his bag “He’s a writer”

“Makes sense I guess” Gilbert said after a second “I mean some of them like typewriters right?”

Matthew laughed “Not that I’ve met I mean the backspace key is the best invention ever per my dad”

“Figures” Gilbert said a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Anyway I gotta get to work but this was uh fun?”

Matthew nodded “Same. Ohhhh wait!” he put his bag down and pulled out the bungee cord handing it to Gilbert who looked like he was reconsidering his sanity. “What?!” he asked .

“I didn’t expect you to actually bring it” Gilbert said taking it rather bemusedly. “I figured it was just a good excuse to see you again”

Matthew felt himself blushing ‘oh god’ he thought “So is this the part where I give you my number?” he tried to ask casually and utterly failing.

“Maybe?” Gilbert said with what he hoped was a charming smile.

Matthew rolled his eyes “Give me your phone” he said swiping it out of Gilbert’s unresisting hand. A minute later he handed it back “Text me?” he said trying to look confident as he passed it back feeling his own phone vibrate not even a minute later.

Gilbert grinned as he watched the other man walk away “Call you later?” he called after him.

“Up to you!” Matthew yelled back with a wave.

‘Definitely then’ Gilbert said under his breath as he watched him go. And then the rest of the day went in a blur of meetings and memos.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Matthew was correct in his guess about Felix and the table. While his sticky note (Felix this is for feet not a pile of ‘stuff’) on top of the table had worked the interior was already full of folders they mutally used. Matthew huffed as he set his things down but figured it was fair considering it was shared space/stuff.

“I heard that” Felix muttered ““We should get like a shared bookcase or something and then you could put other stuff in there”

“God we sound like we’re married” was Matthew’s response as he looked at the little space they had left in the office.

“You really like your naps” Felix commented standing up and getting his things together for his afternoon class.

“Got into bad habits man. Blame my cat crazy college roommate” Matthew said laughing as he got settled on the couch with his laptop feet already kicked up on the table.

Felix rolled his eyes “I just want you to know that like all of your friends and I mean all of them are weird as hell” he said on the way out the door.

“Well you’re weird too soooo” Matthew called after him rolling his eyes at the finger he got in response.

Settling down to be productive Matthew started grading the pop quiz he had made his students do on Friday. The optimism he felt from the morning coffee date kept him going through sad grade number 32 until he realized that sad grade number 33 didn’t even have a single answer right. Shaking his head Matthew made a note about office hours and tutoring on the corner of the page. Stretching he gave up on grading for the afternoon and got up to check his phone.

* * *

Gilbert was having a good day. No technology had died over the weekend and while the upgrades and scheduled backups were going to be tedious he now had someone cute to text while he waited what felt like decade for the process to finish. Granted that was if the other man ever replied.

Renaming Matthew’s contact to ‘Cute Professor (Matt)’ he had quickly shot a follow up text of “Hey good to see you this morning”

The next one was “So do you want to hang out at some point?”

The third one was going to be “Wanna see my chick?” but fortunately Eduard intervened at that point.

“Dude most people think it’s weird to double text ad you’re gonna triple text?” Eduard said pulling his phone out of his hands. “Come on dude”

“But I thought it went well!?” Gilbert said sulking as Eduard made coffee “I don’t know why he isn’t replying.”

“It’s cause you’re not cool” Alfred said unhelpfully from the other side of the kitchenette doing god knows what with the microwave.

Gilbert gave him the evil eye “I am awesome and you know it”

Shrugging and speaking around a mouthful of burrito Alfred mumbled something back that Gilbert didn’t catch but figured was worth flipping him off.

“Anyways “ Eduard intervened “I feel like saying ‘wanna see my chick’ might send the wrong message” Maybe be like “I have a pet”

“Dude that just sounds creepy” Was Alfred’s contribution.

“You are both awful at advice and I never even asked for it” Gilbert replied taking his phone back. “I’m sure he’ll get back to me later.”

* * *

Matthew looked at the table that had just murdered his phone. Okay actually he had murdered his phone, but the table had definitely helped. Poking at the screen he winced as the cracked screen refused to respond to any of his poking.

“Shit” he said with a sigh putting the phone down to pick up the things he had dropped when he fell. Somehow between his desk and the table he had tripped on the laptop power cord smashing his phone into the table on the way down. Heading to class he kept poking at the screen hoping it’d let him respond to the texts from Gilbert. No dice. Resigning himself to trying to get the sketchy phone guy at the mall to fix it Matthew went to teach.

Chatting with students after and erasing the board he wondered if it would be rude to email Gilbert to ask if he had any phone screen expertise. Deciding to try the mall first he headed out hoping the bus would be on time.

45 minutes later he couldn’t believe how much the phone fixit stand wanted him to pay to fix his phone. “I mean not to be rude, but I could buy a whole new phone for that much money!” he said indignantly

The girl looked like she had heard this speech approximately one million times before “Yeah but you don’t want to buy a new phone so…”

Shaking his head Matthew told her he’d think about it.

Waving him off she got back to work on some other poor shmucks phone.

Trudging back to the bus station Matthew figured it was time for plan b. Or rather G.

* * *

“He emailed me!” Gilbert called over to Eduard as they finished the last set of computers for the day. It was 8pm and Eduard had steadily been telling him not to bug the other man all day.

“Why didn’t he text back?” came the absent reply as Eduard finished zipcording the wires together and tucked them back behind the podium partition.

“Says he broke his phone screen and wants to know if I know how to fix it”

“Figures” Eduard said as he picked up his stuff “People always think tech guys know how to do everything”

“I mean I do know how” Gilbert said with a shrug “I used to do it as a side gig in school”

Shaking his head Eduard headed out the door “Well if you do offer to fix it make sure you get a date out of it”

“That’s the first good idea you’ve had all day” Gilbert shouted after him ignoring the snort from the hallway.


	7. Chapter 7

Shaking the leaves off the rake Matthew wondered how he had ended up here. Years of apartment living had made him miss raking leaves in the fall, the nostalgia clouding the reality of wet leaves and the stupid trees and wind messing up his perfect piles. Still, it was cheaper than the mall.

Gilbert’s email literally minutes after his email had simply said he’d totally fix Matthew’s phone if Matthew would rake his yard and do dinner with him. Figuring it was the least he could do for his phone’s savior since he’d already planned on offering him half of what the mall kiosk had asked for Matthew had agreed.

“Dude have you ever actually raked your yard?” he called over to the porch where Gilbert was lounging with his bird and a beer.

“Maybe like 3 years ago?” Gilbert offered

Shaking his head Matthew got back to work “You’re lucky I like you “ he muttered

“You better like me!” Gilbert called back somehow hearing him over the crunch of leaves.

Smiling Matthew kept going finishing about an hour later and flopping on the steps of the porch.

“Phone?” he asked holding out his hand.

“Be nice to it this time” Gilbert said plopping it into his hand.

“I am nice your table killed it “

“Technically it was Patrice’s table” Gilbert said unhelpfully “So what do you want for dinner?”

“Are we cooking or going out cause if we are going out I need to go home and change” Matthew offered sitting up straighter.

“if we stay in we can make potato pancakes and sausage and watch a movie” Gilbert said looking thoughtful “But if we go out we can get something cooler and like go to a bookstore? That’s what you’re into right?”

Matthew thought for a second “How about we do that next time?” he said “What movie we watching”

“You can pick!” Gilbert said with a grin as he headed inside. “You can chuck the rake back into the shed if you want”

“Sounds good!” Matthew replied a small smile of his own spreading across his face as he did so. As he put the rake away he noticed some familiar containers from the other week stifling laughter he went back to the house.

“So your brother must have lost the fight?” he asked as he kicked off his shoes in the hallway.

“What?” Gilbert said from the kitchen where he had three different pans on the stove.

“All the containers in the shed” Matthew said “Also where are glasses? Water would be nice after your hell lawn”

Rolling his eyes Gilbert pointed to the right cabinet. “Nah” he replied putting a scoop of what looked like batter in a pan. “Ludwig won but his boyfriend just brought the boxes over here”

Shaking his head Matthew got water “Sounds fun”

“ You have no idea”

“So what am I picking movies out of?” Matthew asked sitting at the small island across from Gilbert watching as he flipped the pancake perfectly.

“I got Hulu and Ludwig’s Netflix ”

“Sounds good!” Matthew said “I haven’t seen that new horror movie that’s all over the internet. It’s on Netflix, sound good?”

“Perfect” Gilbert said with a smile. “Give me 20 minutes and I should have dinner together”

“Sounds good I have to go through all my notifications from the last few days” Mathew absently said paging through texts and email notifications. “Aww I lost my log in streak” he complained at his screen.

“If you are a candy crush nerd I am uninviting you to dinner” Gilbert snarked over counter “But seriously what game”

“Not candy crush” Matthew said rolling his eyes “The number of times I’ve told a student off for playing in class has made me never want to touch that game”

“Fair” Gilbert said putting another pancake on the pile “By the way have you ever looked at your Professor rating page”

“I know exactly what comment you are talking about and it’s a lie I did not tell the student to drop out and farm goats” Matthew sniffed “But if I had they would have deserved it”

“I figured it was just a mad kid but that really made your page worth reading man” Gilbert said snickering slightly as he flipped the sausages.

Shaking his head Matthew got up and poked at the bird that was in the corner again. “Hey birdy” he said tentatively.

“Careful with the fingers”

“I’m not two Gilbert” Matthew muttered but he made sure his fingers looked very unlike food as he went to pet the back of the bird. “Your birds cute “ he said after a second “I have a cat named Kuma”

“Lud’s a cat person too” Gilbert said as he put the sausage on a plate. “How old’s your cat?”

“Only 4.  You need help with dishes or should I set up the movie?”

“Movie” came the distracted reply.

Tentatively walking into the next room Matthew spotted the remote on the coffee table and sat down to figure out the system.

“Gil…” he called into the kitchen after a few minutes

“So help me Gott if you broke my Tv” He heard Gilbert mutter.

Scrunching down into the couch Matthew winced “Look I’m not the best with technology and you have literally six remotes”

“Yeah and you just have to hit the on button the roku to turn it on and then the on button on the big grey one”

Matthew did it and was relieved when the tv switched to the right screen.

“Dinners up” Gilbert said peeking into the living room.

“You should label your remotes”

“Become tech literate its literally 2019 you have no excuse”

Rolling his eyes Matthew grabbed a plate and started getting food as Gilbert grumbled “Get literate yourself” he finally said

“I am literate! I read a whole book the other day” Gilbert protested watching him get settled on the couch .

“Was it ‘ _Go dog Go’_?”  Matthew asked cheekily watching Gilbert get his plate together and then feed the bird before coming out.

“It was ‘ _How to ask a smartass out on a date’_  

“How’d that turn out” Matthew asked as he started the movie.

“How about you tell me” Gilbert said sitting next to him.

“I’ll let you know after I try dinner” Matthew said laughing.

* * *

 

Date number three was as promised at a bookstore Gilbert seemed to know every comic book/alternate bookstore in the city and had proposed a ‘bookcrawl’ ending at a pizza place his brother recommended.

Matthew thought it was going well as he flipped through a book on ‘the art of planting strawberries’ . “Yo Gil “ he called down the aisle “how hard is it to grow strawberries”

“Are you asking so you can plant some?”

“Maybe…” Matthew admitted a bit ruefully.

“I’d stick them in a pot or something they spread” came the reply as Gilbert pulled another book on birdwatching off the shelf.

They’d spent the last week meeting up ocassionally on campus for coffee until Felix had told Matthew that he should just go for it. It turned out that Gilbert did read, granted it was mostly thriller fiction and books on birds but he listened to Matthew’s literature rants so it worked out.

Smiling Matthew narrowed down his picks from the store to two books and headed toward the front. “Coming Gil?” he called

“Yeah” Gilbert said following him “You only got two right? You told me not to let you get more”

“Yeah” Matthew said waving the two at him before he paid.

“So Pizza?” he asked when they got outside

“Pizza” Gilbert said grabbing his hand suddenly and pulling down the sidewalk.

Startled Matthew stopped for a second and then decided to go with it. It was nice even if it was awkward. Besides it also kept his hand warmer.

“So what do you like on Pizza?” he asked as they walked

“Anything really” Gilbert said with a shrug “Just not anchovies?”

“Fair enough” Matthew said “Did you see? The online menu says they have a perogie pizza!”

“That just sounds weird, I take it back no perogies or anchovies” Gilbert said after a second of thought

“I mean its weird but intriguing right?”

“Sure” Gilbert said as they walked up to the restaurant. “After you ?”

Smiling Matthew went in.

* * *

 

“So I kind of really like you” Matthew said afterwards as they chatted in front of his apartment.

“Kind of?” Gilbert said crowding into his space.

“I mean I’ve been on three whole dates with you so maybe just a little bit” Matthew said smiling up at him.  “Want to come up for coffee?”

“Are we talking coffee coffee or…”

“Guess you’ll find out” Matthew said with a smirk laughing when Gilbert started to blush. “But to be honest probably just actual coffee” .

“Sounds good to me” Gilbert said following him inside. “I mean not coffee is good too but…”

Continuing to laugh Matthew hit the elevator button and smiled at the other man. “Anyway so are we a thing?”

“Do you want to be a thing?”

Darting quicker than Gilbert could have expected Matthew was suddenly in his space and he felt lips quickly brush his cheek before the other man got on the elevator “I’m going to take that as a yes” Gilbert said bemusedly fingers touching where the other man had kissed him.

“It’s a yes” Matthew said as he hit the button for his floor.

“I’m leaving you if you break another computer” Gilbert teased as they went up.

“I can just call you instead” Matthew said smiling at him.

“Fair enough”.

 

 


End file.
